Thursday 15 August 2013

Sailing into Stavanger

Monday 5 August 2013. After the sunshine of the North Sea, we wake early to a dull and overcast day on the approach to Stavanger, our first port of call on the Fjordland Wonders cruise.

The sun is not to be seen and there are spots of rain in the air as we glide past a series of docks and small huddles of houses.

A couple of small islands loom in front of us and we manoeuvre around them, admiring the red topped white lookout hut. We decide breakfast can wait until we have docked.

As we get closer to Stavanger there are some large industrial sites and some large ships docked. We glide past the Island Constructor along our port side. We pass the Rosenberg shipyard that started in 1896 building passenger and fishing vessels but went on to build many tanker ships.

Stavanger appears in front of us and we wonder where we will be moored. A large suspension bridge comes into sight to our left.

This is where we are heading for. The corner of Skansegata, where it meets Havneringen. To the right, the inlet is called Vågen. The new Cunard ship, the Queen Victoria, is docked on the opposite side of the Vågen. We shall glimpse her in the next entry and also will see her in Flam tomorrow.

There is a loud rattling sound. A diesel engined forklift truck appears, pushing a gangway along Havneringen. It enters the controlled area around the ship and the driver skillfully lifts one end up onto the ship. We're here. Now it's time for some breakfast before we get off the ship!

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